Chapter 157

Lyla nodded over and over, her face pale as she tried to convince the two women behind her. They followed her into the restroom and waited outside the stall, leaving Lyla alone inside. She closed the door carefully, her hands shaking, and immediately pulled out her phone.
Scrolling through her recent calls, she found the number she didn’t save. She pressed call and held her breath.
A robotic female voice answered, “The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and try again.”
“Not in service? How could it be not in service?” Lyla’s voice trembled. Sweat slid down her temples and she felt cold all over.
What now? Who else could help her?
Then, almost desperately, she called Sofia.
As soon as Sofia picked up and Lyla heard her voice, she hung up right away, then quickly typed a message, her fingers so unsteady she kept missing letters.
[Sofia, the security bureau says I’m under suspicion for leaking secrets. They’re at BlackOak right now, asking questions!]
[Please, you have to help me. Everything I did was to help DeepQuanta beat BlackOak, to help you get established at DeepQuanta!]
On the other end, Sofia’s face changed the second she saw the texts.
She was sharp enough to realize Lyla probably wasn’t alone and couldn’t talk. Swallowing her annoyance, Sofia replied right away.
[Are you out of your mind? When did I ever tell you to do any of this?]
Sofia couldn’t believe Lyla had actually gone through with it. She’d only ever hinted at things, but Lyla had taken her seriously.
Lyla stared at Sofia’s reply, all the color draining from her face. Shock flashed in her eyes. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on
Sofia was clearly trying to wash her hands of this.
No way. She wasn’t going to let Sofia walk away clean.
At this point, it was every woman for herself. There was no more pretending, nothing left to lose.
[Sofia, if you don’t help me, I’ll send our recorded conversations to the authorities. And I’ll tell them Mr. Ratcliff helped you cover up the plagiarism, too.]
Sofia read the message and her face twisted, getting uglier by the second.
Lyla was dragging her down, and if those recordings really existed, Sofia would definitely be questioned. If the plagiarism scandal got out, her career in the Al world would be over.
She bit her lip, pacing back and forth in the room, thinking hard. After a long moment, she seemed to make up her mind. She walked out and knocked on the study door.
Hank was inside, busy with paperwork. When he saw Sofia come in, her eyes red, his expression tightened with worry. “What’s wrong? Why are you so upset?”
Sofia met Hank’s worried gaze and finally felt a little relief. At least she still had someone on her side.
“Hank, Lyla… Oh, that’s the girl we ran into outside BlackOak. She’s been accused of leaking secrets by Reese.
“She just reached out to me. She says Reese is trying to drag me into this, to get me investigated and ruin me.
“She also says Reese is working with people from Clever Cloud, faking evidence that I stole her data.
“Why is Reese doing this to me?” Sofia’s voice cracked as tears streamed down her face. “First she blamed me for hurting her child, now she’s accusing me of leaking Secrets and plagiarism. She’s trying to destroy me.” sŵnovels
She choked up, tears making her look even more fragile.
“Hank, do you think she’s doing this because I’ve gotten close to Mr. Ratcliff?
“But I only did that for the partnership between the our families.”
Hank’s face darkened. He hadn’t expected Reese to go this far. His tone was low and serious. “Dent worry. I’ll call her. As long as I’m here, I won’t let her hurt you.”
When Reese saw Hank’s name light up her screen, she was sitting with Matthew, sorting through evidence.
She paused, a bad feeling settling in her stomach. Why was Hank calling her now? After everything that had happened between them since their mother’s death what could he possibly want?